Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Taoiseach will agree that the fundamental duty of everybody elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly last week is to work with others to get the institutions functioning in the interests of the people. Reports last night stated that the first day of discussions resulted in a Sinn Féin walk out on funding for legacy issues. This is a far from encouraging start, particularly given that it does not relate to the specific issue which brought down the Executive and on which the election was triggered. There is no evidence, so far, of any significant changes in the positions of any of the parties, and the opening dynamic is not good, to say the least.

The drift and growing tribalism in the Executive during recent years happened at exactly the time when London and Dublin took a decision to step back and leave it to the DUP and Sinn Féin. If there is one clear lesson from recent years it is that disengagement by the two Governments is damaging and must be permanently reversed. The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Charles Flanagan, is participating in the talks. Will the Taoiseach assure us that he will continue to participate up to the point where a conclusion is reached? If the Northern Ireland Executive is not re-established soon, what arrangements will be made to ensure Northern Ireland has a voice on Brexit? At the recent civic dialogue on Brexit, the very clear message from those who spoke for Northern Ireland, representing the civil dialogue, was the absence of a coherent voice from Northern Ireland on Brexit and real alarm about the fact that people were not engaged in the most important issue to face Northern Ireland and the entire island in a generation.

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